[book] Why Materialism Is Baloney By Bernardo Kastrup (10/10)

[Adam M]

The best way that I can describe this book is that it's "an adventure."

Definitely one of my favourite books that I've read so far, I would recommend it to anyone who has the patience to actually try and understand the analogies and metaphors that this entire book consists of.

There is occasionally some difficult language but I firmly believe that anyone can understand this book if they read slowly enough and take the necessary time to think about what they have read every few pages.

Overview: Kastrup details the logical flaws of materialism.  Then he presents the alternative, idealism.  Then he uses idealism to explain everything from paranormal phenomena to elves to UFOs to psychedelics to the ego.  He literally explains everything using the metaphor of idealism EXCEPT for how reality BEGAN.  I am very unsatisfied with his version of the creation story but it is only a small paragraph out of an otherwise exemplary book!

Read this book if:

- you like learning about the brain

- you like metaphysics

- you are interested in spirituality and would like to see an almost scientific and logical description of the nature of reality

- you are skeptical about the credibility of modern science

- you like psychedelics 

- you want to experience  a very sound description of why mystical and non-local experiences occur

 

This book is extremely profound and you will have deep insights at every single page if you take the time to contemplate the reading. Worth your time! 

 

Edited October 31, 2017 by Adam M

[Joel3102]

Very excited to order this book! Also interested in his other book "More than Allegory"

[Adam M]

3 hours ago, Joel3102 said:

Very excited to order this book! Also interested in his other book "More than Allegory"

@Joel3102

Yes!  I was completely beside myself with some of the insights in this book...

Towards the beginning, he relates mystical experiences with reduced brain activity.

Kastrup explains that the brain filters and localizes your perceptions and that when the filter  is not working properly (ex. during suffocation), there is a higher chance of non-local/mystical experiences

This idea interested me so much and it has changed my entire paradigm about the role the brain plays in our consciousness'.

 

I'm definitely planning on reading "more than allegory"

[Egosum]

Great review. It's truly a fantastic book. Kastrup is probably my favorite writer and philosopher at the moment; his work has revolutionized my understanding of consciousness, reality, the brain, psychedelics, and on and on. His other books, especially Brief Peeks Beyond and More Than Allegory, are also very good reads.

I would also strongly recommend reading his technical papers:
http://www.bernardokastrup.com/p/philosophy.html

Here's a great quote from the abstract for the paper "The Idealist View of Consciousness After Death":

"If idealism is correct, the implication is that, instead of disappearing, conscious inner life expands upon bodily death, a prediction that finds circumstantial but significant confirmation in reports of near-death experiences and psychedelic trances, both of which can be construed as glimpses into the early stages of the death process."

Edited November 13, 2017 by Egosum

[Will Bigger]

On ‎10‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 11:08 AM, Adam M said:

He literally explains everything using the metaphor of idealism EXCEPT for how reality BEGAN.  I am very unsatisfied with his version of the creation story but it is only a small paragraph out of an otherwise exemplary book!

Space-time is itself part of reality.  Reality never began. 

[Adam M]

@Will Bigger I personally have not done enough contemplation on the topic of creation...but the way that bernardo tells his "creation story" was just a little bit unsatisfactory for me

[Blackhawk]

This is the best book I have ever read. I haven't finished it yet though.

How is it possible that our society doesn't know this stuff.. All our "brilliant scientists" are wrong. What the fuck..

Stuff makes much more sense now.

[Girzo]

10/10

Leo would probably say 8/10, because Bernardo is not God-realized, haha.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Girzo